Hunting season is here, time to sight that rifle

Peter Waszkiewicz, of Rochester, sights his Mossburg. The 22-year-old will be hunting soon. Photo by G. Ouzounian (click for larger version)

October 26, 2011 - Opening of deer season is right around the corner on Nov. 15 but, without proper alignment, even the most seasoned hunter will find his gun sights useless.

Yet thanks to Bald Mountain Shooting Range, located at 2500 Kern Road in Lake Orion, sighting a rifle need not require large expenses or distant trips.

"You spend all this time waiting for hunting season to come, so you want to make sure where you aim is where you shoot," said Owner Pat Leiske. "It takes a little effort as well. It's different if you have a scope and if you haven't had the gun bore mounted, you wont be hitting anything further than 25 yards."

Bore sighting is essentially sighting the rifle's iron sights to match the trajectory of the shot. Further adjustments are made by determining where the bullet hits the paper and without the bore sighting, this step can become difficult. Trajectory of a shot can also change depending on the type of ammunition, so it's important to find the most preferable brand and stick with it, Leiske said.

"You'll see guys who will bring out 10 different types of ammo to find what works best with their guns," said Lieske. "Then you'll have others who hand load and bring in ammo saying 'this is the best stuff you'll ever fire.' It can get pretty in-depth."

Once the firearm is consistently hitting targets at 25 yards, then scopes and other accessories can be added.

For hunters with busy schedules or those who simply have no interest in the sighting themselves, Bald Mountain offers the service. $30, a box of ammo and a gun secured in a case are all it takes to have the firearm completely sighted, with an employee calling to notify when the job is done.

Aside from that, Bald Mountain offers a wide variety of gun related activities including sporting clays, an executive course, a rifle and pistol range, golf cart rental (to navigate the facility's many courses), and shotgun rental. The tasteful set up of some of the sporting clay areas attempts to - and in many cases is effective at - representing a more realistic hunting scenario. These areas feature raised platforms to shoot down on clays, embedded stations surrounded byner-pull" or timed release.

On top of it, most of the amenities at these sections were not only made with wood from the surrounding forest, but trees that were taken have been replaced.